Shuttle boxes for looms for weaving



p 1966 w. R. BROOKSBANK SHUTTLE BOXES FOR LOOMS FOR WEAVING Filed Jan. 27, 1964 INV ENT OR WALLACE RONALD BROOKSBA/VK ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,273,604 SHUTTLE BOXES FQR LOOMS FOR WEAVING Wallace R. Brooksbank, Embsay Tannery, Skipton, England Filed Jan. 27, 1964, Ser. No. 340,468 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Feb. 5, 1963, 4,752/63 5 Claims. (Cl. 139-183) This invention relates to improvements in shuttle boxes for looms for weaving.

Looms are usually constructed so that at each end of the loom is situated a shuttle box, the shuttle being propelled across the slay of the loom alternately into each box wherein its flight is checked so that it can be returned across the slay.

Materials for braking the flight of a shuttle across the loom are situated in the shuttle boxes and normally are afiixed on to the inner surfaces of the back and front section and sometimes on the underside of the top section of the box and so arranged as to brake the flight of the shuttle by trapping the shuttle under pressure as it flies into the box. Such braking may be brought about by causing the pieces of braking material to exert a pre-arranged pressure upon the sides of the shuttle, the pressure in some cases being controlled by springs or other mechanism, which holds the braking material against the shuttle as it is entering the box.

On entering the box the flight of the shuttle is retarded by the frictional force exerted upon it by the braking material which normally consists of pieces of leather, plastic, composition or other suitable materials which are capable of braking the flight of the shuttle without causing the shuttle to become unduly worn. The leather or other braking material may be employed in various shapes and forms according to the particular type of loom but in general is aflixed along the length of the box often being attached to the inner surfaces of both the back and front sections of the box which are usually constructed of metal and/ or wood.

In the case of certain shuttle braking materials it has been found that the material has worn most rapidly near the mouth of the box at the point where the shuttle when entering the box has first made contact with the material.

With the significant increase in shuttle speeds and the use of shuttles constructed from man made materials it has become more difficult to find an ideal material for shuttle braking. Many of the materials which were in use previously now tend to become burned or excessively worn especially at the mouth or entrance of the box by the initial impact of the shuttle. Whilst new shuttle braking materials with greater resistance to burning and wear have been proposed there is a tendency for such materials when fixed to the inner surface of the main length of the box itself to cause excessive wearing of the surface of the shuttle, or to be considered unsuitable for controlled shuttle braking due to their comparative hardness or lack of resilience or for other reasons.

The object of the invention is to produce a continuous piece of shuttle braking material for attaching to the mouth and also to the inner surfaces of the main length of the box itself in which the end of the piece of material is to be attached to the mouth or shutttle entrance end of the box is processed in a different manner from the rest of the piece of material which lines the remainder of the length of the box. It is thus possible to incorporate in one continuous piece of shuttle braking material a predetermined length which has been processed in such manner as to be suitable for lining the mouth or shuttle entrance end of the box giving maximum resistance to the initial impact of the shuttle whilst the remaining length of material is processed differently and in such manner as to be suitable for exerting the maximum control of and for causing the minimum wear to the body of the shuttle.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a shuttle S about to enter a shuttle box.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the front checking face of the box looking in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1.

A shuttle box shown in chain dotted lines in FIG. 1 is constructed with shuttle checking surface a on the front side of the box and with a swell b or shuttle checking surface on the back side of the box, the front surface being bolted to the box and the back surface being mounted on an arm B pivoted on a pin b on the box and engaging a lever b adapted to release the arm B for the picking of the shuttle all of known construction.

A lining of braking material C is adhesively secured to the surface of the swell b and a lining of braking material C is similarly applied to the front checking surface a. Similar linings may be applied to the top and bottom surfaces of the box.

The lining material is preferably composed of leather although it may be composed of a plastics or other material.

The material is prepared in sheet form from tanned leather a strip 0! for employment at the mouth or entrance of the shuttle into the box being treated with paraffin wax of a melting point 140 F. or with hard setting crystalline waxes up to melting point of 190 F. to provide a hard surface to encounter the initial impact of the shuttle S. The sheet may then be treated superficially with wax or a wax like material having a melting point of to produce a relatively resilient portion or it may be untreated. The subsequent treatment of the relative resilient portion does not affect the previously treated hard portion.

The material may be formed in two portions united into a single sheet by a joint in order that different qualities of leather may be employed or each portion on being treated to produce the hard portion.

The lining C for the front surface may be cut away to provide a slot c or aperture for the passage of a feeler to detect when the shuttle is exhausted in known manner.

What I claim is:

1. A shuttle box for looms having an open mouth adapted to receive a shuttle, and means for braking a shuttle propelled into the box through said open mouth comprising two brake lining support members extending in opposed si-de-by-side spaced relation toward said mouth, at least one of said support members having a one-piece, continuous brake lining strip formed of shuttle braking material, said strip being treated at the open end of said mouth with a first wax having a relatively high melting point to provide a hard impact-resistant surface adjacent said shuttle box month, said strip being further treated over the remainder of its length with a second wax having a lower melting point than said first wax to provide a braking surface that is more flexible and less hard than said impact-resistant surface.

2. The shuttle box defined in claim 1 wherein said at least one member is a movable swell.

3. The shuttle box defined in claim 1 wherein said at least one support member is fixed in the shuttle box to provide a checking surface.

4. The shuttle box defined in claim 1 wherein said first wax has a melting point between F. and F. and wherein said second wax has a melting point between 120 F. and 125 F.

5. The shuttle box defined in claim 4 wherein said first wax is a hard setting wax.

(References on following page) References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Mills 139-186 Ellsworth 69-21 Shivell et a1 161226 X Strauchen 161226 X Sikes 139186 Brown 139185 McGill 161-226 X Chouinard 139185 Wakefield 161226 X Shivell 6921 4 2,596,651 5/1952 Carter 139183 2,710,030 6/1955 Work 139-187 3,010,484 11/1961 Carroll 139-1 85 3,114,397 12/1963 Messer 139161 5 FOREIGN PATENTS 740,578 11/1955 Great Britain. 772,052 4/ 1957 Great Britain.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner. DONALD W. PARKER, Examiner.

J. KEE CHI, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SHUTTLE BOX FOR LOOMS HAVING AN OPEN MOUTH ADAPTED TO RECEIVE A SHUTTLE, AND MEANS FOR BRAKING A SHUTTLE PROPELLED INTO THE BOX THROUGH SAID OPEN MOUTH COMPRISING TWO BRAKE LINING SUPPORT MEMBERS EXTENDING IN OPPOSED SIDE-BY-SIDE SPACED RELATION TOWARD SAID MOUTH, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID SUPPORT MEMBERS HAVING A ONE-PIECE, CONTINUOUS BRAKE LINING STRIP FORMED OF SHUTTLE BRAKING MATERIAL, SAID STRIP BEING TREATED AT THE OPEN END OF SAID MOUTH WITH A FIRST WAX HAVING A RELATIVELY HIGH MELTING POINT TO PROVIDE A HARD IMPACT-RESISTANT SURFACE ADJACENT SAID SHUTTLE BOX MOUTH, SAID STRIP BEING FURTHER TREATED OVER THE REMAINDER OF ITS LENGTH WITH A SECOND WAX HAVING A LOWER MELTING POINT THAN SAID FIRST WAX TO PROVIDE A BRAKING SURFACE THAT IS MORE FLEXIBLE AND LESS HARD THAN SAID IMPACT-RESISTANT SURFACE. 